Hacking Student Learning Habits with Elizabeth Jorgensen  

This is Season 4, Episode 8 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Elizabeth Jorgensen. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Education, the Delaware Academy for School Leadership, and The School House 302. Don’t miss what Liz says about student learning habits, process-based assessments, writing for an audience, making connections outside of the classroom…and so much more.

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Elizabeth Jorgensen Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

Elizabeth Jorgensen has been published in many popular journals, including the English Journal, Edutopia, Teachers & Writers Magazine, Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture (Harvard University), Brevity, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Writers Who Care, Ohio Journal of English Language Arts, Wisconsin English Journal, Skinny Poetry Journal, and Gyroscope Review, and more. 

Her book on process-based assessment, Hacking Student Learning Habits, was published by Times 10 Publications in 2022, and her most recent book was released in October 2022, Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete, which was written to help young people follow a dream and to focus on the process

She has presented for the National Council of Teachers of English, National Council for Social Studies, Wisconsin State Reading Association, Wisconsin Writers Association, East Asian Studies Center at Indiana University, The Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts, and The Illinois Reading Council, among others.  

She is an award-winning writer and teacher and sought-after speaker. 

Just to name some of her accolades: 

She was named one of 20 of America’s Most Inspiring Educators with an award called The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation Teacher Innovator. 

She has been the Arrowhead Union High School Teacher of the Year, the Graduate of the Last Decade from Carroll University, the Lucille S. Pooley Award winner for Successful Techniques in Teaching Composition in the Schools of Wisconsin, the Jarvis E. Bush winner from the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English, and a recipient of the PBS Innovative Educator Award.

You can learn more on her website: lizjorgensen.weebly.com.

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FocusED Show Notes with Elizabeth Jorgensen  

Mark Barnes found her on Facebook and through her articles he felt like she had a book, which was the inception of Hacking Student Learning Habits. 

Don’t miss what Elizabeth says about authentic purpose, and writing for an audience. 

We need to find a purpose for the assignments outside of the grade. 

Elizabeth uses examples for authentic assessments from across the content areas. It’s all about the process and real-world ways that we connect students’ assignments to actual problems outside of the school. 

The audience has a lot to do with how authentic we can make the students’ work—who will see their work outside of the teacher and the grading system? 

It was really cool to hear Elizabeth talk about Sijo, a Korean form of poetry. The way she connected her love of learning poetry to her students’ interests is amazing. Check out her book about it, Sijo: Korea’s Poetry Form. 

Listen to Elizabeth talk about inspiring young people to set goals, including her story about there not being enough books about athletes for girls. 

You can’t miss what she says about the limitation of rubrics for process-based assessments. 

Elizabeth: One thing that administrators can do to support teaching, learning, and risk-taking is to connect like-minded teachers in the school around a particular topic. 

As always with our guests, Elizabeth mentions Twitter as a go-to place for learning. She also mentions using a thought partner, for her, it’s her mother, who is a former teacher. 

One focus that shines through in the podcast is the notion of relationships and making connections with people outside of the classroom, including parents and the local community. 

Joe highlights some of the things that Elizabeth is explaining on the show: risk-taking, making connections, asking questions, being vulnerable, etc. 

Listen to what she says about the present, and staying in the present…to show…and do our best. 

Elizabeth ends the conversation with advice to administrators to say “yes” whenever possible. Allow teachers to take risks whenever possible. 

Hacking Classroom Management with Mike Roberts 

This is Season 4, Episode 7 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Mike Roberts. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, and provided as a professional development experience in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Education, the Delaware Academy for School Leadership, and The School House 302. Don’t miss what Mike says about becoming a modern teacher, breaking the cycle of past practices, grading, and assessment, classroom management, student empowerment…and so much more.

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Mike Roberts Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

Mike Roberts has been a middle school Educator for more than twenty years. In that time, he has taught English, has been an instructional coach, and is currently an Assistant Principal. Over the course of his career, he has received numerous awards for his outstanding teaching, including being named the 2014 Utah English Teacher of the Year and the 2018 Utah Middle-Level Teacher of the Year. Mike also teaches college classes focused on classroom management and literacy in the content areas. He has served on many educational committees and has been a featured speaker at dozens of state, regional, and national conferences.

Mike’s most recent book, Hacking Modern Teaching – 10 Ways to Build Student Engagement, Maximize Success, and Inspire Authentic Learning, offers a variety of strategies to help teachers and students thrive within today’s modern classroom. Mike is also the author of Chasing Greatness: 26.2 Ways Teaching is Like Running a Marathon, where he shares advice from some of the best teachers and runners from across the country as a way to help you reach your highest potential. Mike is also the author of Hacking Classroom Management – 10 Ideas to Help You Become the Type of Teacher They Make Movies About, which identifies a variety of strategies that empower students in the learning process.

When he’s not teaching or presenting, Mike can usually be found running ultra-marathons in the mountains. And even after all these years, he’s still not sure which takes more energy…a week with middle schoolers or running a 100-mile race.

You can contact Mike at www.thebaldenglishteacher.com

You can follow Mike on Twitter @BaldRoberts

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FocusED Show Notes with Mike Roberts  

Mike starts the show with a reminder that we need to take risks, show students more about ourselves by connecting beyond the curriculum, and try new ways to support learning.

We’re not so far into this podcast episode before Mike is challenging the status quo of teaching the way that we were taught. 

Joe asked about “engagement beyond the curriculum” and Mike talked about using simple themes in books to apply that concept to popular music. The connections are key. 

Mike says he’s the king of the cameos. Don’t miss what he says about how teachers and leaders can “show up” without losing all of their nights. 

Teachers need to be authentic to who they are; don’t miss what Mike says about authenticity and teacher style. 

You want to hear what Mike says about seating charts and late work–some are better than none and late is better than never. 

Mike’s insights on using self-assessments are powerful. Too many of us jump to conclusions without trying the new strategy. 

Mike’s explanation of classroom management is really about creating classroom culture, doing school with students versus to them. Joe delineates this between a controlled environment and an empowering one. 

We talked about self-reported grades as having a high-effective size. 

Mike talks about providing students with tons of options–the more options the better–and the benefits of this for teachers. 

He talks about giving students a challenge: “do something that impresses me.” 

Mike talked about setting goals and bite-size challenges. Big goals are overwhelming but small ones are inspiring. Don’t miss what he says about manageable chunks and 1% better. 

He talked about Jim Knight being an influence when he was an instructional coach. 

Don’t miss why Mike follows Malcolm Gladwell, Jocko Willink, and David Goggins. 

Mike wants to help lift up teachers to help them to be the best that they can be. 

Mike Robert Quotes from FocusED

Any time you can connect what you’re doing in one class with another class is critical.

Show students you care by investing in their extra-curricular activities.

We need to be respectful of what goes on outside of our student’s lives. 

Teaching is the coolest job in the world. The things you say and do can last for generations.